[Talk-ca] Automated imports of Canvec?

[Richard Weait]

On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 2:05 PM, Tyler Gunn <tyler at egunn.com> wrote:

[ ... ]
> What I've got in mind is a plugin for JOSM where you'd add a bunch of
> Canvec tiles to a list, hit a button and leave it alone while it does
> its thing.

In a complete surprise, I'm going to recommend against this.  :-)

I think that OSM will be "complete, and in maintenance mode" once we
have a mapper on every block.  Yes.  That's a grand goal.  As more and
more places approach that grand goal, the local data gets better and
better.  Few important things can change in the real world without a
mapper noticing and updating OSM.

While data-processing tools have improved with every generation, I
don't think that "insufficient automation" is the problem.

I'm willing to listen to reason (well, _I_ think I'm reasonable,) and
I have some suggestions that will allow me to feel better about such a
 process should you decide to proceed.

So far we haven't got strong data to support or refute that imports
harm OSM community vs. imports are better than no data.  Other than my
brilliantly insightful personal observations and anecdotal data,
obviously.

Can we set up an A vs B test to determine the long term benefits of
imports?  Would picking an area with ten towns, dividing it in two
similar portions and importing one provide such data?

How about considering a partial import in some places.  One long-time
contributor from Italy suggested, "Don't import the roads."  The idea
being that if you don't have to go add the roads, you don't bother to
join the community.

Other options?

Best regards,
Richard